by Vi Keeland
A tear fell down her cheek, and I ran my tongue over it, licking it away. “Don’t cry,” I whispered. “It hurts me when you cry. I love you so much.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I need you to believe that,” she said.
There were no further words necessary. I could feel her heart beating through her chest, and with every ounce of my being, I knew she meant everything she said. In the same way I could always feel her pain, I felt her love for me pouring through her soul at that moment.
I wanted to show her in the way I knew best, how much I loved her, too.
CHAPTER 33
NINA
Jake kissed away the last of my tears then looked up at me. The hunger in his eyes from earlier had returned. “I don’t want to talk anymore,” he said.
Good. Neither did I.
Between our getting interrupted this morning, to my longing for him while he visited his ex-wife and then his leaving me in the bathroom tonight…I was overstimulated.
It didn’t help that he looked beyond incredible with his chin scruff and tousled grown out hair. I looked down at the contrast between my white skin and his tanned tattooed arms wrapped around my waist. They were three shades darker due to his working out in the sun lately.
And this beautiful man belonged to me.
He lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed it. It was always bittersweet to see my name inked around his finger, a symbol of an unreturned commitment born out of a nasty fight. How could I have turned him down when he had asked me to marry him? The life I had before he came along was empty, consumed by fear of the future and past regrets. Meaningless. Being with Jake was always about living in the present. Our lives weren’t perfect, but he was perfect…for me.
I was still straddling him when he flipped me over onto the bed so that I was lying on my back. He hovered over me and his smile faded when he realized I had tears in my eyes again.
I was crying because of how much I loved him, plain and simple. Before he said anything, I ran my fingers through his hair and said. “They’re happy tears.”
“Okay.” He smiled. “I want you to relax now, baby. I am going to make you forget all of the pain of the past couple of months. It’s just you and me and this moment. I want you to get lost in me. Can you do that?”
I bit my bottom lip in anticipation, as he lowered his head and devoured my mouth with his. I teasingly nipped at his tongue ring, and he groaned playfully.
“Do that again. Bite my tongue like that, but do it harder, pull on the barbell. It fucking turns me on when you bite me,” he said.
I kept locking his tongue in with my teeth, and he growled each time I did it. We couldn’t get enough of each other, smiling, laughing, teasing. It was heaven.
When he began sucking my nipples, the sensation was overwhelming. We would laugh every time milk would come pouring out, and then he would lick it away. “Mmm…so sweet, just like you are,” he said.
He kissed his way down my body and if the need I harbored for him all day was like a controlled burn between my legs, then his hot wet mouth coming down on my clit was the gasoline. The cold metal of his ring sent a shockwave through me. He circled his tongue slowly around my folds while his fingers moved in and out of me. He moaned in ecstasy, enjoying giving me pleasure as much as I loved receiving it. I had my hands on his head, guiding his mouth over me.
“Pull my hair harder,” he said, and I complied. “Harder,” he repeated.
He was driving me mad.
After a few minutes, he kissed his way back up to my mouth and I pushed his boxers down. “I want you inside of me…now.”
He continued kissing me, ignoring my pleas, his slick cock rubbing against my stomach. My need for him was immense. I lowered my hand and started to jerk him off, but he took my hand away. “Uh-uh,” he said, smiling over my mouth as we kissed.
He then kneeled above me and stuck his fingers back inside of me, closing his eyes and breathing out slowly. His wet hair was falling over his forehead as he looked down at me and let out a long breath that I felt on my stomach.
“Fuck…you’re so wet.” With his eyes fixed on me, he kept moving his fingers in and out before withdrawing them and licking each one and I almost came from watching him.
“I can never get enough of how you taste.” He licked his lips. “Turn over.”
I rolled over onto my knees, expecting him to finally give in. Instead, he continued to finger me. “Jake…please…I want you so badly.”
“Believe me. You’ll get me.” He slowed down the movements of his fingers, and the level of need was getting almost painful.
He took his other hand and moved my head to the side, pulling my hair back to kiss me, groaning into my mouth.
He removed his fingers. I was throbbing as he rubbed my ass gently with both hands. “I used to fantasize about this spectacular ass…the things I would do to it. I never imagined it would belong to me someday.” He slapped it once playfully, then squeezed my cheeks together. “You’re a dream. Turn back around.”
“You’re killing me,” I said pulling him down onto me and kissing him.
“How do you want me, baby?” he asked.
I knew what he wanted, and if there was any night I wanted to give it to him, it was tonight. “I want to ride you.”
He nodded, out of breath, and I could see from the look in his eyes, that he was pleased with my answer. He moved onto his back and held his cock in his hand, stroking it.
I wanted to give him some of his own medicine, so I lightly brushed my opening over his tip. His mouth trembled as he watched my every move and when I abruptly sat down on him, he let out a loud grunt that I was sure would wake the baby. He was now deep inside me and I began to grind my hips over him.
He grabbed my sides. “Shit…you’re gonna make me come…slow down.” Our eyes locked, and my hair had fallen over my chest. “Move your hair back, I want see your beautiful tits move while you ride me.”
After a few minutes, I felt his body start to quake, and I knew he was losing control. “I need to come, baby. Come for me…so I can let go,” he said.
He looked into my eyes the moment my muscles tightened around him. He always knew exactly when I was coming. At that moment, his mouth opened to a silent cry as he pushed me down harder over his hot release.
Yeah. He was definitely worth the wait.
CHAPTER 34
The next morning, I woke up to two boys with messy dark bed head lying next to me. A.J. was on his Daddy’s chest, sucking on Jake’s pinky finger.
Jake handed him over to me. “He was hungry, so I gave him some oatmeal. It’s not quite cutting it, but I wanted to let you sleep a little more.”
A.J immediately latched on. “Ow…easy, buddy.”
Jake laughed. “Daddy was a little rough on those last night.”
“Mommy likes it rough.”
Jake lifted his brow. “Does she, now?”
We smiled at each other, both still sleepy but sated after last night.
Jake kissed my forehead. “What are our plans for today?”
“I told Daria and Tarah I’d meet up with them for coffee before we head back tonight.”
“Okay. Why don’t you pump me a bottle for him, and I’ll take A.J this afternoon, so you can have some alone time with your friends.
“Really? Are you sure?”
“Yeah…but just a couple of hours. There’s somewhere I want to take you before we leave the city.”
***
After my alone time, Jake asked me to meet him on 32nd Street because we planned to have dinner at one of the Korean restaurants there.
He hadn’t noticed me yet as I was approaching them. He looked so handsome leaning against a brick wall, his disheveled hair under a Red Sox cap. He had A.J. in the carrier on his chest and my heart melted when he kissed our son on the head, not realizing I was watching them.
“Hey, guys.”
A.J. started flailing his little arms and feet excitedly at t
he sight of me.
“Hey, Momma. We missed you,” Jake said before kissing me passionately in the middle of the busy sidewalk.
“I missed you guys, too.”
After a stop in a department store so that I could nurse A.J. in a dressing room, we enjoyed a delicious dinner of Kimchi Fried Rice and Noodle Soup.
As we exited the restaurant, I turned to Jake. “Where are we going now?”
“You’ll see.” He flashed me a devious smile, and the way he said it reminded me of our old fear expeditions.
We kept walking until he stopped…right in front of the Empire State Building.
“Jake…what are we doing?” I asked nervously. “I don’t want to go up there right now.”
“Come on, Nina. I thought you were over that.”
“I thought I was too…but…I am just not in the mood.”
“Can you do this for me? I want to enjoy the view of the city with my family. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do with you.”
I looked into his hopeful eyes and just couldn’t say no.
I took a deep breath in. “Alright…okay, let’s do it.”
He was beaming and led the way through the front doors. We paid for tickets so that we didn’t have to wait in the long lines.
I closed my eyes the entire elevator ride up and breathed through it. Even though I was able to get inside one now, it still made me uncomfortable. With everything I had been through in the past year, my old phobias had pretty much dissipated, having taken a back seat to everything else. That didn’t mean I was ever going to love elevators or heights or planes. The important thing was that I could now face those things if I needed to.
When we finally got onto the main observation deck, the view was spectacular since it was a clear day. Of course, being up so high still made me uneasy, but when I looked at Jake’s expression as he stared out over the city, it was all worth it.
We were on the east side facing Brooklyn. Jake spoke softly to A.J. “See over there…that’s where Mommy and Daddy lived when we met. I thank God everyday that He brought her to me.”
Then, it hit me: why he had brought me up here. He was going to propose to me.
This was it.
My pulse was going ballistic as I looked over at Jake who was looking straight ahead taking in the view. He would point things out to me, and I would nod along, wondering when he was going to do it and how he was going to transition all of this into a proposal. After about fifteen minutes, he put his arm around me and said, “You ready to head back to the hotel, babe? It’s almost time to check out.”
I bit my lip and nodded silently, suddenly feeling stupid and realizing that I should have known better. It would take a lot more than one night of normalcy to get him to trust me enough to propose again. Or maybe, he would stick to his word and never ask me for as long as he lived.
Either way, this wasn’t going to change the surprise I had in store for him tonight.
***
We had about an hour before we had to check out of the hotel, and that would give me just enough time to feed the baby and pack up our stuff before we left to go home.
Jake still had A.J. strapped to his chest as he held the hotel elevator open for me.
I closed my eyes and yawned as the elevator began rising, and then it came.
A jolt.
I grabbed onto his shirt. “Jake…what just happened?”
A wide smile spread across his face, and I soon realized his finger was on the stop button. This was an apparent reenactment of our “first time.”
“Where’s the champagne?” I joked.
“No champagne today, baby.”
“What are you doing, Jake?”
“Remember that day? You know, I was starting to fall in love with you, even then. That mellow song I played…I was trying to tell you my feelings, even though I thought I could never have you.”
“I loved that song,” I whispered, tears starting to form in my eyes.
“You and A.J. are my entire world. The past year and a half with you has given me back every last piece of innocence I lost in the years before and then some. At this point in my life, I would do anything for you. If you told me today, that you couldn’t accept my continuing to be there for Ivy, then I would have no choice but to let that part of my life go, no matter how guilty I felt. You love me enough to make sure that I don’t ever have to choose, that I don’t ever have live with guilt or regret. I know it’s not easy for you when I leave you sitting on the couch breastfeeding him to go see my ex-wife. I’ve always seen the sadness in your eyes. You’ve dealt with it…for me. There is not one time I walk out the door on those days where my heart doesn’t ache with love for you. You are strong enough to know deep down that my looking out for her doesn’t change how much I love you. You have given me a life that I could have never imagined…a dream I gave up on years ago, because I never thought it would ever be possible to meet someone who loved me enough to accept everything that came along with me. I wouldn’t change one painful thing about my life, if it meant not ending up right here in this stuck elevator with my family.”
I closed my eyes for a brief moment, overcome with emotion. When I opened them, I noticed that Jake had slipped something into our son’s hand. It was a paper bird. He hadn’t made one of those for me since before A.J. was born. This one wasn’t black…it was white: a dove.
“I told you I wasn’t going to propose to you again. I meant it,” he said.
He must have sensed the disappointed look on my face, because he rubbed my cheek and smiled.
“But I didn’t say he wouldn’t do it.”
My eyes were welling up.
Oh my God.
“You have something for me, little man?” My heart was pounding as I took the dove that was now crinkled, from A.J.’s tiny fingers and opened it.
See this guy...Jake?
I want you to cut him a break.
Not just cuz he’s my dad…
But because he loves you like mad.
He said he was done asking you to be his bride.
Well, Mommy…he lied.
After everything we’ve been through…
He still really wants to marry you.
Look at him…he’s a mess.
Please tell him you’ll say yes.
He was a mess, a beautiful one, with tears in his eyes, as I pulled him into me, careful not to crush A.J.
“Yes…yes…a million times…yes,” I said through my own tears.
He pressed his forehead to mine. “I know you said we should wait. Seeing Skylar and Mitch yesterday reminded me that life is short, and I don’t want to wait one second longer to marry the love of my life.”
I wiped his eyes. “I wouldn’t change anything either, Jake…the good or the bad. What would moments as perfect as this mean with nothing to compare them to? Every bit of pain it took to get here was worth it.”
“I didn’t have time to get a ring. I actually went looking while you were out with your friends but couldn’t find the right one in time. I’ll take you shopping in Boston.”
Perfect timing.
“No need,” I said unable to contain my joy.
“What do you mean…no need?”
I had been hiding my left hand in my sleeve for the past couple of hours. I lifted it to show his name tattooed on my ring finger in the same font as the ink of my name on his own.
His eyes lit up in pure shock. “What the…when did you do that?”
“I cancelled the coffee today. This was something I needed to do, and you gave me the perfect opportunity.” I smiled. “It’s permanent, you know.”
“Yeah.” He lifted my hand to his mouth. “So are we, baby. So are we.”
“I love you so much,” I said.
“And I love you.” He kissed me then turned to A.J. who was cooing. “And you, my little wingman…I love you to the moon.”
AVAILABLE SPRING 2015:
Jake Understood
From th
e author of the Amazon #1 Bestselling Romance, Jake Undone, comes a full-length companion novel.
A different side to the story: Jake’s side.
“We’re getting a new roommate,” they said.
I thought nothing of it…until she walked in the door. Her hand trembled in mine as she looked at me with fearful eyes. My entire world spun on its axis.
Nina…
It was a mismatch made in heaven: innocent girl from the boonies moves in with tattooed, pierced, badboy engineer.
I came up with a bet, a plan to tutor her in math and coach her through her phobias. What I wasn’t betting on was becoming addicted to her.
But I was living a double life on weekends, and once she found out about it, she’d be gone.
I had to protect myself and that meant one thing: I couldn’t fall in love.
**In Jake Understood, pivotal scenes from Jake Undone are retold from Jake’s point of view, combined with all-new material that will give readers a never-before-seen glimpse into Jake’s past, present and future. It can standalone but if both books are read, should follow Jake Undone.
Contains graphic sexual content and harsh language. It is only appropriate for adult readers age 18+.
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My Skylar
(Mitch and Skylar’s Story)
A USA Today Bestseller.
From the author of the #1 bestselling romance, Jake Undone, comes a friends-to-lovers story of longing, passion, betrayal and redemption…with a twist that will rip your heart out.
Skylar was my best friend, but I secretly pined for her. One thing after another kept us apart, and I’ve spent the last decade in fear of losing her forever.